Discount Retailer E-Mart’s Packaged Food Brand Peacock Gains Strong Footing In South Korea’s Home Meal Replacement Market
Peacock, a packaged food brand of South Korea's biggest retail outlet E-Mart, is increasingly putting a mark on the country's home meal replacement market, with sales hitting $59.2 million in the first 10 months of 2015, increasing by 55.2 percent from the same period in 2014.
According to Korea Herald on Thursday, Peacock was launched in 2013 as a pet project of Shinsegae Group vice chairman and heir apparent Chung Yong Jin. Today, the brand accounts for more than 10 percent of packaged food sales as E-Mart.
"As the hypermarket sector here is saturated, E-mart attempted to differentiate itself from other players with Peacock products that can only be found at its stores," said director of Peacock Kim Tae Euk.
Peacock carries more than 500 products, including Korean soups, side dishes and Indian and Vietnamese food.
"Next year, we will expand the number of products to 1,000, but plan to produce them in small quantities to keep the brand's high-quality image," added Kim.
Petrol Plaza noted on Oct. 19 that demand for packaged food in South Korea as an alternative to home-cooked meal has increased significantly due to the rising number of single-person household population, which is now reportedly at more than 26 percent of the country's total population.
"Japan, a country that faced demographic changes such as the increase of single-person households, low birthrate and an aging population before Korea, has the highest proportion of people who purchase home meal replacement products including lunch boxes at convenience stores over other retailers such as hypermarkets and department stores," noted 7-Eleven official Lee Na Ra.
Investors are also reportedly cashing in on manufactured meals shares as food and beverages shares increased by 28 percent this year, driving the sub-index earnings ratio of 30.5, noted Reuters on Aug. 21.
"Shares of companies related to home-meal replacements have risen sharply, reflecting structural changes in society such as the increasing number of single-member households and working women," said Kim Seung, an analyst at SK Securities.
